When someone a child or teen admires gives them special attention, introduces them to famous athletes, takes them to games, and gives them things, they may begin to worship that person. Sometimes this person may be a sports coach who may be doing these things to gain students’ trust in order to take advantage of them.

There have been many incidents of child sexual abuse involving coaches in the recent years. Sadly, schools covered some of these assaults up so that they would not lose their funding or prestige. Some incidents at schools include:

Penn State University—The sexual abuse scandal involved former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. He was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts of child sexual abuse during his trial and was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison for his crime. Penn State’s head football coach Joseph Paterno was fired for not reporting concerns about Sandusky to authorities.

Poly Prep Country Day School—The prestigious private school covered up assaults for a 25-year period, during which its longtime football coach sexually abused hundreds of boys. The school was at the center of a lawsuit for failing to act when coach Phil Foglietta was reported to have abused and raped male students—school officials seemed to put the school’s interests above student safety.

Unfortunately, many institutions like these listed here have turned their heads to sexual abuse in youth sports in order to protect the school’s reputation. However, there are other schools that haven’t ignored the allegations and have fired the coaches charged with sexual abuse.

If your child was abused in Florida by his or her coach or another adult, please call the Mallard Law Firm at 888-409-3805 to speak with a skilled Sarasota child abuse attorney in a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation today.